I became interested in my ancestry in the late 1970s. I wondered how I came to be born in Sydney, Australia, rather than in some other part of the world.[1] I was in possession of some items from my great-great-grand-father, Philip Cohen, and my father was aware of a “Lord [sic] Mayor of Melbourne” and a “Supreme Court Judge” somewhere in the family tree. The rest was a blank. No one before had apparently been interested in our genealogy—or, maybe they had but did not like what they found. Well, the skeleton is there, great-great-great-grand-father Henry—“the Con.”
My father has fond recollections of a great-aunt Sarah (a cousin of “the Judge”) who died in her 90th year, but she apparently never spoke a word about her grandfather, Henry.
Today, it is somewhat difficult for us to appreciate the stigma that, in the past, was apparently felt by those who were descended from an emancipist. At the very least they did not advertise the fact. Maybe that was part of the reason why all six of Henry’s sons left Sydney for other parts of the Big Island. (I am living in Sydney now because the son Philip, and his family, after about 30 years away, mostly in Launceston and Melbourne, eventually returned to Sydney.)
The editor of the 1964 reprint of The Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux, Noel McLachlan, remarked that “the convict phase is now sufficiently remote for people to approach it with interest free from embarrassment.” Not so apparently for some. The Hon. Edward Cohen’s entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, published in 1969, makes no mention of the reason why his mother Elizabeth brought him and the rest of the family out to the Colony. Apparently, descendants of Henry Cohen’s first ten children—those who actually came out “free”—may infer either “free” or “convict” descent, depending on which is socially the most appropriate for the company they are in at the time!
There are at least two memoirs, written by “gentleman” and/or educated transportees, which give some indication of the conditions which may have been experienced by Henry Cohen after his conviction: the abovementioned The Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux and J. F. Mortlock’s Experiences of a Convict. Both describe graphically the shocking experience of being confined on an English Hulk; Vaux describes his stay in a land-based prison prior to transportation (his wife used to stay overnight), his second voyage to Botany Bay (p.202), and thereafter the not-so-terrible conditions obtainable by an educated convict—if he behaved himself.[2] Vaux’s story is additionally interesting in that he describes some of his dealings with the various “fences” to whom he had disposed of his ill-gotten gains—most of whom seem to have been “Jews”.
As you will appreciate, when researching an old Jewish name such as “Cohen” it can at times be difficult to be sure that a particular individual is actually the one in which you are interested. There were three Henry Cohens, including another Henry and Elizabeth, brothers Lewis, Samuel, George and Abraham (issue of Barnett Cohen[3] and Sierlah née Levy), and another Edward (Daniel) Cohen in the Colony during the relevant period. Samuel and Lewis Cohens seem to have abounded.
In the case of government documents it is easier to be certain as convicts were always identified as “Name per Ship” with, in some instances, the year of arrival for good measure, eg, “Henry Cohen per Lloyds 1833”, and free persons, where appropriate, were identified as such, eg, “Elizabeth Cohen (Free)”. In these notes, where the identity of an individual is unsure the name is prefixed by a query, eg, “?Samuel.”
The Family Tree “Cohen of Paddington” researched by William S. Jessop[4] provided the initial stimulation for my researches. However, I believe that some of the “leaves” on Jessop’s Tree are misgrafted—materially with respect to his belief that Henry had a sister Caroline and a daughter Sarah.
The primary purpose of this document is therefor to bring together all the previously published information that can be found on this family. It is my intention to continue researching Henry, his children, and grandchildren, and to re-record here any matters of interest thereon, so that this monograph may be of interest to all the descendants of Henry and Elizabeth.
To create a better understanding of the “life and times” of Henry, I will also include notes on any interesting otherwise-related or associated contemporary persons.
Unfortunately, in those days, women—with some rare exceptions—were not involved in commerce, and little is to be found on them. The male usually controlled any business and property, and it is activity of this type that many documents of the times record.
It may well be that I have here re-recorded too much detail, but the detail is about our Cohen ancestors; it is about us; it is not meant for general reading.
If I ever do get to the stage that I consider the exercise finished I may move the footnotes to the end of the document so that the document is less cluttered in appearance. Also, for drafting purposes, I have embolded some items within the text to remind myself that further research of that area would be desirable.
With respect to Registrar-General Records it should be appreciated that some errors were introduced thereto during the original copying of pre-1856 Church Records; and many more errors have been introduced during the digital re-recording of the records, which have been recently published on Compact Disc.
I have found that this curiosity about one’s ancestors whets the appetite for an understanding of that period in general and so I have included a bibliography of the publications, which I have perused during this research.
It has not been my intention to re-invent the wheel and so I have freely quoted the findings of other researchers with due acknowledgment, and in some cases critical comment; and, while the purpose of these notes remains for private study or research, copies thereof may be freely distributed without obligation to the various copyright owners of any of the material reproduced herein.
Any comment (critical or otherwise) on, or contribution to, the notes developed to date would be appreciated and may be addressed to the author/editor, Philip C. Cohen, at 2/244 Kingsway, Caringbah (Sydney), NSW 2229, Australia. Telephone +61 2 9544 3978; Facsimile +61 2 9527 0143; Mobile 0408 400 911; Email: formset@accsoft.com.au.
Philip Charles Cohen
(b.1940)
